


A Day in the Life

by chrissy_sky, TerraTenshi



Series: Rescue Tim [12]
Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Ensemble Cast, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 10:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/608790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrissy_sky/pseuds/chrissy_sky, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraTenshi/pseuds/TerraTenshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kon shows Tim around the Todd Enterprises building.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day in the Life

Title: A Day in the Life   
Summary: Kon shows Tim around the Todd Enterprises building. **  
  
**000 **  
  
**Tim’s first few days with them were very rough. He was grateful when Kon offered to follow him on walks, because at least he wasn’t in bed constantly, and Jason didn’t try to stop them from leaving the apartment. He’d never gotten to meet the entire team before, nor seen the whole building. It would be hard to be around other people, but Tim made himself take one step after another out of the apartment. **  
  
**He would not let this fear conquer him. He would not. **  
  
**- **  
  
**Ravager leaned over him, her one good eye gleaming. “He’s cute.” **  
  
**Tim made himself not step away from the older teen’s all too interested gaze. It reminded him of some of the looks he’d get from female rogues as Robin. **  
  
**Some of the male ones, too. **  
  
** **“** Rose,” Conner growled at her softly. **  
  
**She held her hands up in surrender, backing away. **  
  
**A ghost girl--Secret--hovered in the background of the rec room, eyeing them. Conner had to wave her over before she would come say hi, and even then, it was very rushed--and then she was gone. **  
  
**Conner could only shrug at him. “She’s shy.” **  
  
**Tim nodded hesitantly. **  
  
**Speedy was easier--she was just a normal girl, dressed in her green outfit with her mask off, playing a video game. She gave Tim a wry grin. **  
  
** **“** So we’re finally getting more boys. At least Con and Roy won’t be so overwhelmed by all the estrogen anymore. Nice to meet you.” **  
  
**Conner rolled his eyes. “I am not overwhelmed.” **  
  
** **“** Yeah, Roy’s a bit more than you, that’s true.” Mia winked at Tim before turning back to her game. **  
  
**- **  
  
**Tim was strangely relieved that none of them asked about Robin. Conner introduced him simply as Tim, Jason’s little brother, and it was nice. Not “Robin,” or “Timothy Drake,” the two legacies he tried (and probably failed) to live up to. **  
  
**- **  
  
**On the way to the Harper-Rathaway apartment, Tim couldn’t help but ask about a few pictures he had seen in the rec room, of a pale girl with bright red hair and wore face paint that sent chills up his spine. **  
  
** **“** Oh. Yeah, that’s hard to explain,” Conner pushed the button to the elevator and they waited for it to ascend to them. “Uh, you know about the Multiverse theory?” **  
  
**Tim nodded. It wasn’t theory so much as fact. **  
  
** **“** The girl in the picture was Duela Dent.” **  
  
**The smaller teen frowned at what seemed like a change of subject. “As in Harvey Dent? Two Face has no relatives.” **  
  
** **“** Well, no, not in this verse.” They stepped into the elevator together and Conner hit the button for the floor that Piper and Arsenal lived on, the main residential area. “In another world, in another Gotham way worse than ours, there was a Dent that was a woman. That was Duela’s mom. And her dad, well...” He glanced at Tim uncertainly, and he got it. **  
  
**He swallowed. “The Joker.” **  
  
** **“** Kinda. He was called The Jokester and he wasn’t as... Well. He was a former comedian until the evil version of Batman in Duela’s world decided to fuck him up. He became a vigilante in order to fight Owlman. The clown gimmick was pretty much the same though.” **  
  
**Tim nodded stiffly. “How did she get here? Another crisis?” **  
  
** **“** Possibly, Duela was never really sure. Long story short, she was living with her parents, then separated, and her mom’s new husband, and she brought her boyfriend home one day. Only her dad freaks because it turns out her boyfriend was one of Owlman’s sons.” **  
  
**Tim’s breath caught. “An alternate version of Dick?” **  
  
** **“** Dunno. He didn’t look like Dick, she said.” Conner shrugged and they stepped out of the elevator, making their way slowly down the carpeted hallway. Rather than dark like most buildings in Gotham, it sacrificed the gothic architecture for a more modern, Metropolis style. Tim found he enjoyed all the windows and natural sunlight. **  
  
**Conner continued. “Anyway, there was a huge fight, and then Duela found herself in our world. She doesn’t--didn’t know what happened to her parents or her boyfriend. If she secretly knew how she got here, she never told any of us, not even Jason. **  
  
** **“** She started calling herself Joker’s Daughter and worked with the Teen Titans for a while, not very long. Dick had stuck up for her with the other Titans though, and when she left them, Dick brought her to Jason.” **  
  
**Conner was silent for a few minutes as they stopped in front of a door to an apartment. “She died while we were on a mission together. She was shot.” **  
  
**Tim touched Conner’s arm in sympathy. It was always hard to lose someone in the line of duty. **  
  
**The taller teen gave him a weak smile. “She was weird, but I liked her. The make up kind of made sense to me, even though Jason never liked it. It was like... Like she knew how much the version of her father, in our world, had hurt people. And by wearing the same make up, she was taking some of that power back from him. The power that Joker got from making people afraid. I guess that’s part of why the Jokester was dressed as a clown too. He showed the Owlman he wasn’t afraid of him. Duela just wanted to be like her dad.” **  
  
**Tim nodded slowly. He carefully controlled his breathing, not wanting to freak over the topic. It was his own fault, he’d asked the question knowing that the answer could be bad. It was honestly far better than he’d realized. He kind of wished he’d been able to meet Ms. Dent too. **  
  
**Conner shrugged sheepishly. “Of course, I don’t know that for sure. Duela never talked about her family much.” **  
  
**And they don’t talk about Duela much, Tim guessed. He relaxed considerably as they walked into the Harper-Rathaway home and the conversation was dropped. **  
  
**- **  
  
**Roy Harper, a former sidekick like himself, and a recovering drug addict, was in a serious relationship with a former rogue of the Flash’s, the Pied Piper. Real name: Hartley Rathaway. That much Tim already knew. **  
  
**What he didn’t know was how comfortable the two men were with each other, though on the outside they were very different people, personality wise. They doted on Roy’s daughter Lian and had taken to calling her “Princess Lian,” when addressing the young girl. She was about the same age as Lena and the two were apparently friends. They were going to the same school, which Tim could understand the reasoning behind. The bodyguards could watch them better if the girls were together during the day. **  
  
**Music played in every room of their apartment, mostly from tiny radios scattered from room to room, the volume on low. Hartley explained, with some embarrassment when asked, “I was deaf as a child. A surgery gave me the ability to hear, and it’s what I used to develop my ability to hypnotise, but I can still remember the silence. Roy and Lian humor me.” **  
  
**Roy hooked an arm around Hartley’s waist and kissed his cheek. “No humoring about it, darlin’. We want you to feel at home. Besides, you let me listen to rock music.” **  
  
**Hartley nudged him lightly, not really pushing Roy away. “You let me listen to classical music.” **  
  
** **“** See? We’re good.” **  
  
** **“** I like music too,” Lian added, and she hugged Hartley’s leg, making both men smile. **  
  
**Tim watched their interaction, with each other and with Lian, and it was the most comfortable he’d felt all morning. It was easy to be around the little family, like it was to be around Jason’s family now. **  
  
**So far, he thought Jason had picked good people to have around him. **  
  
**- **  
  
**Edward Nigma’s apartment was nearby, but it was his personal office that Conner brought him to. **  
  
**Tim wasn’t really sure what to make of the man now. He seemed so--different than when he last saw the man. Of course, he had been a child then, taking pictures of Bruce and Jason from the shadows. But Nigma seemed changed. Older, if not wiser, for his actions. **  
  
**He still wore a lot of green, and the hat was the same from his rogue career. It hung on a hat rack in the corner, and Tim didn’t really know what to make of its presence. **  
  
**At first, he assumed Nigma didn’t know who he was, and Tim was going to leave his identity as _Just Tim._ Conner asked after Nigma’s current project and the man answered readily, but his tone was not that of a friend; yet he wasn’t condescending when Conner didn’t understand something. He sounded more like a teacher, like Conner was a young protege he had decided to take under wing. He could tell how positively Conner reacted to this, too, as the tall teen smiled enthusiastically. **  
  
**Then Nigma looked directly at him, and his eyes weren’t just clever--they were filled with understanding. **  
  
** **“** If you ever need to talk, kid,” Nigma said quietly, “about stuff. I’m a pretty good listener too.” **  
  
**Surprised, Tim could only nod at the offer. **  
  
** **“** See ya later, Edward,” Conner said, placing a hand on Tim’s shoulder and guiding him out. **  
  
**The part Kryptonian kept close to him as they left. Tim pretended not to notice, and didn’t pull away. He wasn’t panicking, but it was very weird. **  
  
** **“** You okay?” Conner asked. **  
  
**Tim nodded. “Yeah.” He offered a small twitch of his lips, the smallest of smiles, but it made the other teen relax. **  
  
** **“** Okay. Uh, so, you probably don’t want to go to the lab. Pamela lives there and she’s been holed up with Harley the last week.” **  
  
**Conner had that same hesitant look on his face, like when Tim had asked about Duela. **  
  
**Tim nodded and squeezed Conner’s hand in thanks. “Not today.” **  
  
** **“** Okay. That leaves the daycare center where Cynthia works. She’s not on duty today though, so I’ll have to introduce you later. And the gym. Feel like exercising?” **  
  
**Tim really wished he did, but the muscles in his legs were starting to complain about the walk. “Not quite yet.” **  
  
**Conner nodded as if he expected it. “Jase might skin me if I let you anyway.” **  
  
**Tim huffed a soft laugh. “No he wouldn’t. Ground you, maybe.” **  
  
** **“** Oh yeah, there would totally be grounding. No flying or hero work for a week, maybe longer, plus clean up duty.” **  
  
**Tim noticed they were making their way down the halls, back to the apartment they shared with Conner’s parents. He was pretty sure he hadn’t seen the whole building, even taking out the lab, daycare center, and the gym for now. **  
  
** **“** Home already?” **  
  
**Conner grinned at the question for some reason. “Well, the rest of the team aren’t exactly official. Jason keeps trying to talk Selina into it, but she likes living on her own. But she’s kinda like a den mother to all of us, so she comes to help out. She’ll probably visit soon to see you.” **  
  
**Tim felt shy because of this. Selina had always been very nice to him, like a surrogate mother. **  
  
** **“** Raven and Kory are on an away mission now,” Conner went on, “and even if they were home, they, um,” he started blushing, “they can be kind of, uh... We should call ahead of time. Or wait until they come to our apartment.” **  
  
**Tim thought he got the gist of it. Blushing also, he nodded. **  
  
** **“** And Jason said he doesn’t want Oz to live with us because there’d be illegal smuggling schemes going on within the first week.” **  
  
** **“** Oz?” **  
  
** **“** The Penguin.” Conner shrugged. “Jason mostly uses him as an informant.” **  
  
** **“** Huh.” Of course, Tim had known that Jason had no qualms about using the rogues as assets, even if he had once fought against them. “What does he think about Cobblepot using his club as a front for his continuing illegal activities?” **  
  
** **“** He’s warned Oz off of drugs and human trafficking. That’s not really Oz’s style anyway. The occasional piece of rare jewelry or whatever, Jason says they don’t matter in the grand scheme. As long as nobody got hurt.” He shrugged again. “I guess you can argue that crime always has a victim but...” **  
  
**They walked into the apartment, Tim trying not to show how tired he was. He meant to head straight for the couch when the scene inside stopped him short. **  
  
**Jason sat in his chair frowning at Anthea, who was focused as ever on her Blackberry. This wasn’t unusual in itself, but today there was a young man Tim’s age beside the PA. **  
  
** **“** Jason?” Tim asked cautiously. He had never seen the new young man before and guessed that Conner hadn’t either, the way he pressed in close again. **  
  
**The unknown teen stepped forward. “Mr. Drake, my name is Bernard Dowd. Alfred Pennyworth hired me as your personal assistant.” **  
  
**Tim stared. He could tell that Conner and Lex were visibly trying not to smile. If Anthea was hiding her amusement, she was doing a very good job of it. He wasn’t sure if Bernard got the humor or if he hadn’t been made aware of how much Jason still fought against his personal assistant being there. **  
  
** **“** My...?” **  
  
**Luthor’s shoulders were shaking. Jason was rubbing his forehead, as if stalling off a headache. **  
  
** **“** No,” his brother said. **  
  
****“** I already had Mr. Dowd fill out the necessary paperwork,” Anthea said. **  
  
** **“** God damn it,” Jason grumbled. He pinched Lex’s side without looking and finally, the billionaire let his laughter loose. **  
  
****“** What am I supposed to do with a PA?” Tim asked Conner quietly. **  
  
**Conner pressed his lips together, holding in his own laughter before responding. “I dunno, Jason’s still figuring it out too.” **  
  
**Tim nodded and went to fix some tea. He found a cup already waiting for him, being held out for him by Bernard. **  
  
**He sighed and decided to call Alfred about this later. Not that it had done Jason any good. **  
  
**- **  
  
**Edward knocked softly on the glass door before stepping into the lab. Almost immediately, he was wrapped in vines. **  
  
** **“** Oh come on!” the man complained. “Now you’re just doing it on purpose, Ivy!” **  
  
**Every time he came in here. Every. Time. **  
  
** **“** Why are you here, Riddler?” asked the green skinned goddess in question. She stepped out of the foliage--or at least that was how it seemed. Her hair was tied back in a large bun and her lab coat was starched white. **  
  
**Slowly, the plants let him down. Edward dusted his clothes off, though the grass stains were not coming out. **  
  
** **“** You know that Jason’s brother is staying with them,” he said. **  
  
** **“** I’m aware.” She added a drop of something to a beaker and noted the results on her clipboard. He wasn’t sure what she was working on--Pamela labeled everything but her writing was scratchy and unrecognizable, like most doctors and scientists. “How does this affect me?” **  
  
** **“** It might affect Harley,” Edward pointed out. **  
  
** **“** Harley is fine,” she said. There was no emotion in her voice--a distinct lack of emotion. That didn’t happen as much anymore; being around other humans regularly had begun to soften the plant girl considerably. (Meaning she didn’t immediately go postal upon seeing a bouquet a flowers being brought into the building.) And with Harley completely hers, she’d been downright blissful. For Poison Ivy, anyway. **  
  
** **“** She still hasn’t left your rooms,” he added. “Harley is a people person, she needs to be outdoors, meeting people. Shopping. Have you tried tempting her with shopping?” **  
  
** **“** She will come out when she’s ready,” Ivy said. “But if you wish to purchase her a gift, I doubt she would turn it down. As long as it’s outrageously sparkly and preferably pink. Especially if it’s Hello Kitty oriented.” **  
  
**Edward sighed. He wasn’t sure why he felt responsible for these two. They, like him, were former Gotham rogues that their boss had taken pity on. They had to put up with Batman “checking on them” without warning, like the man was their overbearing and creepy parole officer. (Edward had an actual parole officer. His name was Ryan. He was too short to be Batman. Edward liked him better too.) **  
  
**It could also be because they were younger than him, but he wasn’t actually the fatherly type. He liked Conner more than the other teenagers; the teen clearly had as much Luthor in him as he did muscle-bound Kryptonian, and he wanted to encourage the boy to use his brain. **  
  
** **“** Just make sure she eats,” the Riddler grumbled. **  
  
****“** Three meals a day,” Pamela said. She began dispensing whatever was in the beaker into a vial, which she labeled--he still couldn’t read it. “She wasn’t getting enough of her daily vitamin intake while living with that maniac, so I have been preparing her meals. I take her up with me to the roof for walks every afternoon. She prefers to watch the sunset.” **  
  
**Edward started. “She _has_ been getting outside?” **  
  
** **“** Yes. Still working on the people thing.” She said ‘people’ like it was something disgusting that she’d squashed underneath her shoe. **  
  
****“** Okay.” **  
  
** **“** Is that all?” **  
  
** **“** What would happen if I said no?” **  
  
**The vines snagged onto his legs and threw him out of the lab. Not much of a riddle, and he could have guessed the answer on his own. **  
  
**- **  
  
**In the mornings, Tim liked to surreptitiously watch Jason’s PA and Lex’s head bodyguard as they interacted. **  
  
**Mercy and Anthea didn’t talk so much as interact like two coexisting species in the wild. When Mercy appeared in the morning (when Lex was there and not in Metropolis), Anthea made sure she had an energy drink and all information detailing that day’s plans (which she somehow learned without consulting Jason first), and Mercy would be on her way, reading whatever list Anthea made as she left the apartment. She would never go far, but she gave the Luthor-Todd family a semblance of privacy. Their invisible protector, always there in case trouble arose. **  
  
**It wasn’t just professionalism, Tim had seen that plenty of times in his life. The Drakes had their own servants and bodyguards. It was almost a kinship that the two women shared. They took care of Jason and Lex (and by extension their children and Tim himself). It wasn’t a big deal to them; it was as simple as breathing. A sense of purpose that just came so easily to them. **  
  
**He just liked watching them. **  
  
** **“** They’re not available, Tim,” Jason joked one morning. **  
  
**Tim blushed and ducked his head, avoiding Conner’s look of surprise. “I... I don’t... That’s not...” He hadn’t thought he’d be caught, there was no prepared answer on hand. **  
  
**It was Conner that came to his rescue. “He’s not attracted to Mercy or Anthea. He’s just amazed at how easily they work together. It’s kinda cool, right?” **  
  
**Anthea paid no mind to the men talking about her. Just went along with planning Jason’s agenda that day. **  
  
**Jason exchanged an amused glance with his lover. “I guess so, yeah.” **  
  
** **“** Mr. Todd, Ra’s Al Ghul is in town today,” Anthea announced without warning. **  
  
**Jason went a little pale. “Oh... Uh, I think we’ll all be staying home today.” **  
  
** **“** That’s what I thought, sir. Mercy will keep an eye out for ninjas.” **  
  
** **“** Good.” Jason shifted a little closer to Tim. **  
  
**The teen blinked at him. “He’s interested in you too?” **  
  
** **“** Well, Talia still is. She thinks I have... potential.” Jason made a face. **  
  
**Tim leaned against Jason’s shoulder. The al Ghul’s were definitely strange. He didn’t mind staying in today so much. “Want to play video games with us?” **  
  
** **“** Sure.” **  
  
**Later, flowers arrived with a note addressed to Tim, delivered by a man that entered without using the front entrance of the building. Dressed in head to toe black. Mercy appeared a moment later, her gun drawn, not looking amused by any definition of the word. **  
  
** **“** My master sends his well wishes for your swift recovery,” the ninja murmured. **  
  
** **“** Okay,” Mercy growled, “out before I dangle you out the window by your entrails.” **  
  
**The ninja shifted slightly, and Tim thought it was a trick of the light, but the mysterious man was suddenly gone. Leaving the flowers behind. **  
  
**He fingered a petal and sighed. “Scary man.” **  
  
**The teen thought he heard his new friend growling beside him, but couldn’t be sure. Conner also did not seem at all amused. **  
  
**The flowers were thrown out. **  
  
**- **  
  
**End of this part. Merry Christmas/New Years/Solstice/Life Day!

 


End file.
